Dunbar man held for court in traffic fatality
Charges of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person filed against a Dunbar man involved in a fatal accident were bound for court Wednesday following a preliminary hearing. Emmett Cooke, 48, of Memory Lane was charged May 9 before Magisterial District Judge Wendy Dennis following the death of Terry Kurosky, 49, of 168 Brushwood Road, North Union Township.
Police allege that Cooke, a passenger in a car driven by Robert Keefer, 31, of Dunbar, pulled the emergency brake of the car while traveling on Jumonville Road in North Union Township around 5:53 a.m.
According to trooper James A. Pierce, when Cooke pulled the brake, Keefer lost control of the 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier and it slid into a bank and then overturned near the intersection with Klink’s Road.
Police said Kurosky was ejected from the car through the back window and was killed as a result.
During testimony Wednesday, a courtroom packed with employees from Golden Eagle Construction Co., the company that employed the men, wept quietly as Keefer recounted the crash.
Keefer testified that he was driving the men to a road-paving job on Wharton Furnace Road in Wharton Township when the crash occurred and that Cooke and Kurosky were “goofing off like always” during the trip.
He testified that the men, who were “like brothers” were always jesting back and forth, and that just before the collision Kurosky pulled Cooke’s hair. Police said after that Cooke pulled the emergency brake in the car, something he and Keefer told police was a frequent prank played by the men.
Keefer testified he then lost control of the vehicle, sliding sideways into a bank and overturning.
“I must have blacked out, and when I came to, Emmett was pushing me out the door of the car and shaking Terry’s leg trying to get him out…We thought he was just trapped… but he was thrown out the back window and under the car. I can’t describe what I saw,” Keefer testified.
Defense attorney Samuel J. Davis argued that Assistant District Attorney Jack Heneks Jr. did not establish that Cooke pulled the emergency brake outside of Cooke’s confession because Keefer testified he did not see Cooke pull the brake.
However, Dennis ruled that the prosecution established its case against Kurosky and bound the charges for court.
Deputy Coroner Paul Kondrla pronounced Kurosky dead at the scene at 7:06 a.m.
According to Deputy Coroner Jessie Langer, the cause of death was ruled as blunt-force trauma to the head.
Cooke remains free on $50,000 unsecured bond.